Red Region Inferno

I just love this tattoo.

When the gal asked me to tattoo it for her I was very excited.
It speaks words I often wish to say with it’s simple imagery.

War Turtle

What a weekend I had!

After an amazingly fun all night-er in Seattle I had to high tail it back home (missed the f#%$ing ferries) for a grueling 3 hour trip with ZERO sleep to make it to a morning tattoo appointment.

The funniest part of that is the client was from Seattle (well-actually she was from Edmonds) so we were most likely on the road at the same time heading in the same direction.

Anyways… I made it on time, but didn’t have my art ready so she had to wait around while I drew up a stencil from the photo she had given me.

It was a picture of her grandfather’s guitar.
A “Fender Jaguar” Guitar to be exact.
Now I don’t know guitars, so I pretty much treat such things like I would a portrait tattoo.
I just look at the thing and copy it on the skin after making a rough stencil of the shape.
No ‘artistic license’ can be taken when tattooing something like this.

I felt like a zombie.
I hadn’t slept at all the night before and only a few hours the night before that.
I had to look in the mirror a few times to make sure my head wasn’t swollen up like a big balloon (because it felt like it was.
No worries…. I have been tattooing so long that I can pull of some sweet work with one drunken eye shut and strobe lights flashing while riding a roller coaster.

I did however forget that something was supposed to be written in the tattoo so I had to just write it out with a bic pen and draw the banner on.
She wanted it to have that “hand-written” cursive script look.
Made the poor girl spell it out half a dozen times and then quadruple check it before I tattooed it permanently.

I never trust my own spelling anyway, but when I am zombie-fied I really don’t trust myself.
Always double check spelling and do it another couple times if brain fry is involved.
That my friends is a great rule for a tattooist to have.

I wasn’t 100% on the idea of the banner being black work while the guitar was done in color realism, but such things are not always up to me, and in the end it looked o.k. and served the purpose of having it stand out in tribute to her grandfather.

So… the finished Fender Jaguar Guitar Tattoo.  Artfully inked by a zombie.

The client was happy (she loved it) and I was happy.
My tattoo done, I headed home for some long awaited sleep.
I only ended up getting a couple hours because my wife also needed some sleep and our 2 year old thought it was a fabulous day to have an extra special amount of energy and skip her nap, but those 2 hours made all the difference. From Zombie to normal tired person in just 2 hours. What a great invention is the pillow.

Queen rocks!
Yep, that is a statement.. not a question.
When I was a kid I loved Queen. When I was a teen I loved Queen.
Today while tattooing I was rocking out to Queen.

Am I alone in being a huge lifelong Queen fan?
I think that a record of eighteen number one albums and over 300 million albums sold answers that question.

Check out this awesome tattoo of the Queen crest done on a life long fan.

The client who got this tattoo is obviously as big a Queen fan as they come.
For those who don’t know the image..
It is a stylized Queen logo.
The logo (or crest) for Queen consists of the zodiac signs of all four members of the band. The lions (Leo times two) hold a big Q in the center. A crab (cancer) sits above the Q, and a couple fairies (for Virgo) sit next to the Q. I honestly have no clue why the crown is included or the phoenix…. but I am sure a reason exists.
-  If any of you all have any ideas feel free to share them.

Freddie Mercury designed and drew the first few images of the logo/crest himself.

I remember being devastated when Freddie died… but the music lived on.

Now go put a Queen CD on and let them Rock you!

Times have been tough lately in America.

Or maybe I should say “In the USA things have been a bit down.”

Yep, people are out of work, cost of living goes up while wages go down… umm, we are having a failure situation here I think folks.

I know as an artist it is tough.
It is the worst I have had it for the 25 years of my career, and I am one of the lucky established ones.
I really feel sorry for the new guys and gals out in the art world.

People don’t buy art when they are broke.
It is a luxury purchase.
You can do without that great painting you want so bad, but you can’t do without gasoline and food.
So we artists…. we suffer first.
My prints stopped selling in early 2009.
Did they become un-popular all of a sudden?
Don’t think so. People just can’t afford something they don’t have to have.

So my country.
The country with the most external debt in the world. (yep, that is a fact)
Will people lose all love of you my country?
Will we be the poorest of nations?
Will we recover?

Honestly, I have no idea how soon or to what extent we in the USA will recover.
I do know it will get a lot worse for many before it gets better, but eventually I think we will recover.

Will our self rightous pride dwindle to nothing before then?
I doubt it. We have been taught well how wonderful it is to live in the USA.
We have been taught well how we are the best.
The propaganda machine has done it’s job.

So…. we will always love our country and consider it the biggest, best, richest country on earth.
No matter what the facts say.

The tattoo you are looking at is one of my strange negative space color bomb creations.
(formerly know as reverse Image Color Bombs)
It is a small one… just under 4 inches wide, so you are looking at it pretty close to life size probably.
It was done on a gals bottom…..
and no puns were intended.
She is a lover of her country.
Proud to be of the USA.

No big story involved, she told me she wanted the USA and to do one of my abstract/negative space things. Make it cool, keep it small, and this is where I want it.

This is what I came up with.
Kinda nifty – If I do say so myself.
Well…. In that American, made in the USA sort of way.

On a serious note:
If you are live in the USA do yourself a favor.
Buy American made and manufactured products as much as you can until we do get out of our economic slump.
Not much can be done at the moment about how poorly our federal government has used our moneys, but we as a people can at least attempt to help ourselves by keeping some of the money here in the USA.
I am not saying buy lower quality products for higher prices just because they are American products, but if you have a choice between like products… by from your own country. It can do nothing except help.

It is super cool that I have an international clientele.
People come from all over the world to get tattoos from me and that makes me feel pretty darn good.
It especially makes me feel good because I am not always easy to find… so sometimes people need to really hunt.

On the other hand it causes me a problem.
I love to see the finished product.
A tattoo isn’t really finished until it reaches 6 months to a year in age.
It changes a lot during those months and I do my tattoos for that finished look.
When people travel from far away to get tattoos from me I very seldom see them again.
That means I rarely get to see my finished (healed and aged) tattoos.

I’d guess at least half o the work I do is from out of state and about 15% is from out of the country.
Cool… but it sucks I don’t get to see the finished tattoo and know the client is happy.

Sometimes though A client sends me a picture.

Super cool!

This picture was sent along with a thank you note from the client. It shows off her reverse image sailing tattoo I had done for her about a year previous.

I cropped the image to not show the faces… but still I am sure you can all get the idea of the picture.
The client was nice enough to think of me a year plus later when she saw the tattoo on her back and sent this picture along with a super nice note.

Images of my work in real life situations are my favorite.
Much better than just a close up of the tattoo to me.
It is one of he reasons I tattoo.
Unlike paintings…. Tattoos move.
They travel the globe and all different sorts get to view my art.

So…
about the tattoo.
The client travels and races sail boats. It is her hobby.
She was in Australia when she got hold of me to set up the work so I was actually confused when I found she was from DC.

Anyways… I can’t recall the type of sailboat, but she was very specific and sent me some pictures.
She also described how they turned.
I ended up watching some videos to really get a feel for it and then I went to work.
She was interested in my multi dimension reverse image color style stuff and wanted something centered on her back.
She didn’t care to much about how much I utilized the negative space as long as I used it and she wanted some bright colors.
Besides that she let me go with it.
The design was done with no rough work. It came together very easy.
She loved it.
The actual tattoo took about 6 hours.

I took a picture, but it came out shiny.
I will however share anyway…

The not very good picture I took of the multi dimension reverse image sailing tattoo when it was fresh done.

The coolest part of this tattoo is kinda hidden.
You will notice the base shape of the entire design is a copy of the primary boat.
The entire right side color wedge is a sail… but the super sweet part is in the water.
The entire boat is there.
I worked the boat into the water so as to not be easy to notice or distract from the waves, but the whole thing is there.
It was extremely fun.

Now for some extras…..
A couple semi famous quotes that I particularly like involving the wind and sails:
First ~ From William Arthur Ward…

And second ~  From Jimmy Dean…

I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.

You gotta admit… Those quotes rock!

Now a fun fact ~

Have you been Minding Your P’s and Q’s?

I sure hope you have. We have all heard this saying before , but who the heck knows what it really means and where it came from?

People pretty much use the Minding Your P’s and Q’s saying nowadays to imply that you are on your best behavior.
They really don’t know what the P or the Q stands for though.
The saying comes from old navy sailors.
The “P” is for pea jackets and “Q” is for the officers queues (pig-tails, wigs).
When it was time for inspections they had best have their P’s and Q’s in order!

I love foot tattoos.
I like seeing them (If they are done well)
I like tattooing them (unless they want something super small and stupid)
I like showing off my work on them.

So…. A Koi on a foot.

Footsie Koi

Nothing fancy to it….
Just a semi traditional Japanese themed koi in water  on a foot, but I dig it.
The foot is such a great canvas for tattoos.

Just think how cool this one would look while in the water at the beach!

This is Sonny the Cuckoo Bird.
Or maybe I should say this is the original Sonny.
The new version looks a bit different.

Sonny is cuckoo for coco puffs

Sonny is the official mascot of Cocoa Puffs cereal.
What Sonny is famous for is being a freak.
In commercials usually they have him doing something semi normal until he runs into something that reminds him of Cocoa Puffs and the he freaks out and says “I’m cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!”

Sonny’s name is not a real name.
In the beginning he hung out with his grandpa in commercials who was “Gramps” and he was called “Sonny.”
After they ditched Gramps in commercial land they just kept on calling him Sonny.

Sonny was born back in the 60′s (Or introduced to us I guess) and he is a cool and freaky bird.
They updated him in 2004 to a kinda stupid version.
I don’t really dig the new version because he has no soul and is more of an ADD spaz than a freaky cool bird.
I guess that appeals to the new generation of kids better though.
Oh-Well.

Sonny makes a great cereal mascot tattoo because he is bright, energetic, fun, and eye catching.
I totally got into doing this image as a tattoo.
The client claims he gets a lot of positive comments and a few “What the heck did you get that for?” type comments too.
He digs it.

Honey Nut Cheerios is one of my very favorite cereals.
This stuff is YUMMY!

Honey Nut Cheerios was introduced in 1979 by the General Mills as the first variation from their very popular regular Cheerios.

When it first came out they actually had nuts stuck to the cheerios with sticky honey and sugar.
In 2006 for some reason they took away the nuts and changed up the flavor.
At first I wasn’t impressed with the change, but it grew on me and I ended up loving the cereal all the more for it’s new flavor and texture.

Honey Nut Cheerios has a great mascot.
Buzz The Bee or as some still call him… “BuzzBee“.

Honey Nut Cheerios Buzz The Bee Tattoo

This cereal mascot character has been one of the most popular ever.
It was introduced with the very first television commercials for the cereal and has never needed replaced to keep people interest.
Both adults and children alike love the bee.

Originally this funny little bee didn’t have a name. He got his name in 2000 when a fifth grade girl won a national contest to name the bee, dubbing him “BuzzBee”.
Later this was shortned to just “Buzz”.

My favorite Honey Nut Cheerios tag-line was (and is) “It’s a honey of an O.”
It’s kinda naughty and very yummy… I love stuff like that.

A few other good ones existed though. My faves in order….

1. It’s a honey of an O.
2. It’s Irrezzzzistable!
3. Little O, Big Taste!
4. Nobody can say “No” to Honey Nut Cheerios

The most disliked tag-lines for the cereal (my least favorites) are…

1. Bee happy, bee healthy! (the current one)
2. Race for the taste!
3. It’s Honey Nut Cheerios! (duh?)

So… as a tattoo is Buzz cool?

Heck yes he is.

Buzz makes a great tattoo and like a slinky he is fun for a girl or a boy.
Buzz has appeal to both sexes and doesn’t seem to be a pansy, but he is no tough guy either… and he represents one of the most yummy cereals in existence that actually isn’t 100% bad for you.

Honey Nut Cheerios actually still has some nutrition and is semi high on fiber.
Yay for bad for you cereals that we can pretend to be eating semi healthy with!

In short… “The Honey Nut Cheerios Bee is a rock’n tattoo!”

Time for another cereal character tattoo!

Today we have Jose.

This fabulous little monkey may look like he is eating a poop ball… but nope.

Jose The Cocoa Krispies Monkey As A Tattoo

What we got here is a cocoa krispie.
Jose was the first mascot for Cocoa Krispies when it came out back in 1958.
They traded him in pretty fast for Coco the elephant, but Jose the monkey was first.

I guess Kellogg’s figured out it looked like this funny little monkey was eating a turd. Maybe somebody complained… I don’t know.

Certainly  makes a pimp cereal tattoo though.

Just for fun I will give you some Cocoa Krispies mascot history.

• 1958 is the one and only Jose. A super pimp chimp with a taste for poo.
• 1959 we get Coco the elephant who just happens to look like a pink Dumbo.
• 1963 The Hanna-Barbera character ‘Snagglepuss’  took the job of  Mascot.
• 1965 Cocoa the ape man came and went.
• 1965 Snagglepuss returns.
• 1968 brings us Ogg the Caveman. He sucked! Total dork of a caveman in my opinion.
• 1971 brings us Tusk the brown elephant. He acts just like Coco, but is brown with tusks.
• 1981 Kellogg’s gets smart and just gives the job to Snap, Crackle and Pop.
• 1990  They make Coco the Monkey the Mascot again, but this time he is a bad ass and doesn’t eat poo.
• 2001 Someone at Kellogg’s realizes people like Snap, Crackle and Pop , so give them the job back.

Yep… Seems Kellogg’s just doesn’t know what direction to go with this particular cereal and the mascots for it’s publicity campaigns… but that’s cool.

Chocolate cereals kinda sell themselves.

Do it like a toucan.
Toucan Sam that is.
His #1 most famous line is… “Follow my nose, it always knows”
Yep. This is a tattoo of the famous Froot Loops cereal mascot Toucan Sam.

Toucan Sam “Follow my nose, it always knows”.

I enjoyed many a bowl of these tasty cereal yum yums as a child.

Loved the commercials with Toucan Sam leading the way through the jungle… yep, they had me addicted through advertising.

Recently while staying at the Hampton Inn in Seattle I found they had boxes of Froot loops down stairs with the free breakfast.
I decided to grab a box and to my surprise… “blue loops”!
WTF… When did that happen?
The Froot Loops I remember didn’t have blue. It is cereal sacrilege.

I know Archie Bunker wouldn’t have been into blue loops.
(For those that didn’t watch All In The Family – Froot loops was Archie’s favorite cereal)

Oh well… here are some great Froot Loop facts.

• Kellogg’s introduced Froot Loops in 1963.
• They have made other varieties of the cereal including a lower sugar version and a marshmallow version.
• Froot Loops cereal is fortified with 11 essential vitamins and minerals and is low in fat.
• The into on the frootloops.com site annoyed me so much I couldn’t even look at the site to get any cool froot loops facts to post here.

So… not to have a short and boring post.
Lets look at the term “Froot Loop” as “Fruit Loop”.

The word “Fruit Loop” is sometimes used as an area description for cruising and hanging out in gay circles… usually you find many gay bars, restaurants, stores and other businesses targeted to gay men and women in these areas.

A fruitloop is a descriptive term for people we consider crazy. “That dude is a fruit loop!”

Fruitloops are a common slang term for those sets of six rainbow-colored metal rings worn as necklaces, bracelets, etc to show gay pride.

To do a “fruit loop” is slang for walking through a gay bar or club while  looking for some action.

Hmmm… I think that is about it. If you have some others let me know.

So… The tattoo.

No big story to it at all. The guy who got it pretty much got the idea from looking at pictures of other cereal tattoos I had done…. He was checking them out and asked .. “You done Toucan Sam?” and I said “nope”… so he said “I want Toucan Sam”.

That’s the whole darn story.
Told ya there wasn’t much to it.